means for learners of EnglishPowered by COBUILD (miːnz)

Definitions

1. countable noun [oft N to-inf]

A means of doing something is a method, instrument, or process which can be used to do it. Means is both the singular and the plural form for this use. ⇒ The move is a means to fight crime. [+ of] ⇒ The army had perfected the use of terror as a means of controlling the population. ⇒ Business managers are focused on increasing their personal wealth by any available means.

2. plural noun [oft N to-inf]

You can refer to the money that someone has as their means. [formal] ⇒ ...a person of means. ⇒ He did not have the means to compensate her.

Example sentences containing 'means'

All language is here, which means life itself, for nothing exists till these seeds are sown.Anthony Masters CASCADES - THE DAY OF THE DEADClearly Abhorsen's House was not a fortification, relying on means other than architecture for its defense.Garth Nix LIRAEL: DAUGHTER OF THE CLAYRPresumably it means that Follows wasn't the next in sequence.Anthony Masters CASCADES - THE DAY OF THE DEADHe answered, and we haven't heard from him, which means they haven't let him go since talking to him.James W. Huston THE SHADOWS OF POWER